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Higher Education is Hella Fine....

by Kat Maudru,posted Mar 3 2010 7:46AM

10 to the 27th power is a colossal number, but will it be accepted as being hella big? Seems the slang word coined here in Northern California has been proposed as a worthy entry into the field of scientific measurement when calculating enormous numbers. Austin Sendek, a physics student at UC Davis, wants the number of 10 to the 27th power -- a trillion trillions -- to officially become "hella" big. Ya gotta love this! Along the lines of using the "kilo" prefix for kilometers or "giga" for gigabyte, Sendek is petitioning the International System of Units (SI) to use the term "hella" to describe really, really big measurements; such as the size of the universe. (now THAT’S big!) "The diameter of the universe is 1.4 hellameters," Sendek said. "You know if someone says that's 'hella meters' you know exactly what they're talking about." Under Sendek's proposed terminology, you would say the mass of the earth is six hellagrams, and the power of the sun is 0.3 hellawatts. Sendek started an online petition on his Facebook page. He now has more than 23,000. Though the idea started partially in jest, Sendek said it would be a great way to give "props" to Northern California. "It's another way to honor Northern California colloquialism and turn it into actual science," said Sendek.
Hella cool…..